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Louise Pershing was one of Pittsburgh's most prominent painters. She painted portraits, still lifes and landscapes. Her portraits were described by Dr. Paul Chew as "character studies rather than photographic likenesses," while her landscapes and still-lifes were painted "in a vigorous style with quick, heavy brushstrokes and vibrant color." Pershing was born in Pittsburgh in 1904. Her father was a designer who built a number of houses in Pittsburgh's East Side. After attending the Knox School for Girls in Cooperstown, New York, Pershing spent three years studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. She later attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied under Alexander Kostellow and G. Romanoglie. Pershing also studied under the abstract expressionist painter Hans Hoffman. She was a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Pershing's first public exhibition was in 1927, with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. In the 1931 exhibition she won the Art Society of Pittsburgh Prize for her portrait Mrs. Little. This work was later purchased by the One Hundred Friends of Pittsburgh Art. In 1932 she won the Third Honor and Prize Award for her painting Age Dreams, and she was also chosen for the Carnegie Institute's first summer exhibition of selected Pittsburgh artists. That same year, Pershing gained minor notoriety from her 21-foot mural Education versus Crime, painted for the Dormont Public School under the sponsorship of the Public Works Administration. It depicted the advantages of education and its benefits in later life, and its triumph over crime. One side showed the forces of a higher life, while the other represented crime, disease, poverty, gambling, women of the streets, revolution and war. It had been declared unsuitable for the eyes of schoolchildren because one of the figures it depicted was a prostitute, and was rejected by the Parent-Teachers Association of the Hillsdale School in Dormont, Pennsylvania. Pershing commented on the furor over her painting by saying, "I consider it a compliment that the people of Dormont feel they cannot accept my mural. That shows it is beyond their intelligence and understanding. If they accepted it readily and with applause I would doubt if I had created anything worth while." The work was later displayed at Pershing's one-man show at the Gulf Galleries in Pittsburgh. In 1935, the Carnegie Institute held its second exhibition of selected Pittsburgh artist, and Pershing was again among those chosen to exhibit. She also appeared in the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 12th Carnegie Institute exhibitions. In November 1942, her painting Mrs. Little was featured in the One Hundred Friends of Pittsburgh Art exhibition. Pershing had a long and successful career, having fourteen one-woman shows, and winning numerous awards, including prizes in the 1931, 1932, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1967, and 1970 Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibitions. She also exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1934; with the National Association of Women Artists in 1936 (prize); the Wichita Museum of Art 1936 (prize); the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1936; the Cincinnati Art Museum 1936-40; the Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio, 1936-1946; the Art Institute of Chicago, 1938, 1942, 1943; the Corocoran Gallery of Art, 1939; the Golden Gate Exposition, San Francisco, 1939; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1942; the State Teachers College at Indiana, Pa., 1944 (prize); the Springfield, Massachusetts, Art Museum, 1944 and 1945; and had a one-man show at the Contemporary Art Gallery in 1944. In March 1942, the Carnegie Galleries in Pittsburgh held a retrospective in her honor. She was also responsible for opening Studio 130 on Bellefield Avenue, the first private exhibition gallery in Pittsburgh. In 1966, Pershing exhibited a series of industrial paintings showing the Gulf Oil Refineries in Newark, New Jersey, considered to be among her best work. Pershing remained active throughout the 1970s. In 1972 she was honored as Artist of the Year by the Arts and Crafts Center in Pittsburgh. Along with painting, Pershing also worked in monumental sculpture. In 1978 she exhibited two series of minimal-style sculptures, one in aluminum and the other in marble. One of her best-known works, the 16-foot "The Flow," stands by the U.S. Steel Building in downtown Pittsburgh. In 1983 she was named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. Louise Pershing died in Pittsburgh in 1986. Louise Pershing's two paintings, Off-hand Glass Blowing and Bituminous Coal Tipple, appear in the March 1937 inventory of the Steidle Collection, and were donated by the artist, probably in 1936. Off-hand Glass Blowing shows the interior of a glass factory in Glassport, Pennsylvania, with men working around a large furnace that dominates the center of the picture. Executed in blacks, reds and grays, the scene relies more on the artist's attempts to capture an impression of the busy interior, than in producing a photographic image. In the Bituminous Coal Tipple, Pershing again avoids a photographic realism, instead capturing the scene with obvious distortions of perspective and depth. Again she limits her palette primarily to blacks, reds, and grays, although in the lower left corner a small patch of green grass is revealed, as if to show the desolation of this small bit of nature in the presence of the pollution and destructive power of industry. Bituminous Coal Tipple was included in the retrospective exhibition of Pershing's work at the Carnegie Institute in April, 1942. In John O'Connor's review of the show in Carnegie Magazine, which included an illustration of the painting under its original title, The Black Monster, he wrote: "Louise Pershing's painting is, when the theme demands, vigorous and powerful, not only in her brush strokes but in her drawing, outline and color. She makes use of broad, bold patterns. Her means are adopted to her purposes. That is why she can present an industrial scene so effectively, as in The Black Monster...her paintings, each in its own way, give the very feeling of this industrial community."
Sources: Brignano, Mary. The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, 1910-1985, The First Seventy-Five Years. Pittsburgh: Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, 1985. Chew, Paul. Southwestern Pennsylvania Painters. Greensburg: Westmoreland County Museum of Art, 1989. Readio, Wilfred A., "The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh," with illustration of Mrs. Little in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 4, February 1931, pp. 259-263. "Many Prizes Awarded at Pittsburgh's Twenty-Fifth Annual Show," Art Digest, vol. 5, February 15, 1931, p. 32. Comes, Marcella Rodange, "The 1932 Exhibition of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh," with illustration of Age Dreams in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 5, February 1932, pp. 265-269. Saint-Gaudens, Homer, "Exhibition of Paintings by Pittsburgh Artists," with illustration of Portrait of Carl Whitmer in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 6, May 1932, pp. 38-42. "Beyond Their Intelligence; PWA Mural Refused," Art Digest, vol. 8, May 15, 1934, p. 10. O'Connor, John Jr., "Presenting Pittsburgh Artists," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 9, June 1935, pp. 67-71. "Three Women at Argent Galleries," with illustration of Extra Ground in Art Digest, vol. 11, January 1, 1937, p. 16. O'Connor, John Jr., "Paintings by Pittsburgh Artists," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 4, June 1937, pp. 81-86. Hovey, Walter Read, "The Pittsburgh Show," Carnegie Magazine, vol 11, February 1938, pp. 271-277. "Paintings by Pittsburgh Artists," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 13, June 1939, pp. 79-80. Hilton, Roy, "Pittsburgh's Own Show," with illustration of Riding Stable in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 13, February 1940, pp. 259-266. "Paintings by Pittsburgh Artists," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 14, June 1940, pp. 73-74. MacGilvary, Norwood, "Comments on the Exhibition of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh," with illustration of Summer Storm in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 14, February 1941, pp. 259-268. "Pittsburgh, Generous with Prizes, Supports Local Painting," Art Digest, vol. 40, March 1941, p. 28. "Carnegie Honors Louise Pershing," Art Digest, vol. 16, April 15, 1942, p. 12. "The Louise Pershing Paintings," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 16, April, 1942, pp. 13-15. "One Hundred Friends Exhibition," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 16, November 1942, pp. 168-170. Ellis, Joseph Bailey, "Art in Progress," with illustration of Supper at Kennywood Park in Carnegie Magazine, vol. 16, February 1943, pp. 259-267. "Annual in Pittsburgh," Art Digest, vol. 42, March 1943, p.6. "Louise Pershing at Contemporary Arts Gallery," Art News, vol. 42, November 15, 1943, p. 23, and Art Digest, vol. 18, November 15, 1943, p. 10. "Pittsburgh Annual," Art News, vol. 43, March 1, 1944, p. 33. Annie Lou illustrated in Art Digest, vol. 44, February, 1945. "Summer Show of Pittsburgh Artists," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 19, June 1945, pp. 69-70. MacGilvary, Norwood, "Associated Artists Prize Winners," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 19, March 1946, pp. 259-266. "Louise Pershing Exhibit, Contemporary Arts Gallery," Art News, vol. 45, February, 1947, p.43, and Art Digest, vol. 21, February 1, 1947, p. 20. Ewing, C. Kermit, "Out of the Smog," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 20, March 1947, pp. 227-235. Professor Hoff Tatooing illustrated in Art Digest, vol. 23, March 1949. "Louise Pershing Exhibit, Contemporary Arts Gallery," Art News, vol. 50, November 1951, p.59, and Art Digest, vol. 26, November 15, 1951, p. 30. Falk, Peter Hastings (edit.). Who Was Who In American Art. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1985. This document copyright © 1996, Eric John Schruers |